How's TSG?

[Iwannagoatee]

[IMGL]Atlanta or NJ I would guess. No offense, but are you familiar with a lot of the new technologies out there? SCCM? VNC? RIS? Ardence/Citrix? Operating systems can be deployed by simply booting up a PC. All you have to do is enable PXE boot and boot the PC. If you know the MAC address, you can deploy the OS over the network. This will eliminate the need to pay the TSG techs to swap CDs while the OS loads. If you can use Netop or whatever UPS is using now to connect to a remote center, why can't that be done from a central location? Is is in the best interest of the shareholders? I would think eliminating a huge amount of salary, benefits, and pension would be in the interest of the shareholders.[/IMGL]

Who's going to take it out of the box and set it up? I've done helpdesk enough to know that a lot of people out there can't even plug in a monitor correctly, let alone figure out which cord goes where. (Even if they are all color coded now.) There will always be a need for TSG grunts out there... Though if it is going to be another IT Consultanting company doing the work... that's another matter.

Also, if that is all we did, then I would completely agree... but we still do a lot of component troubleshooting (fan/MoBo/NIC etc), DIAD troubleshooting, Scanner troubleshooting, And what about ANY network issue? There goes all of those "new technologies" out there.

I agree with the need for layoffs, don't get me wrong, I just disagree with the way they did it. Not taking anything but seniority into account is stupid when there are SO many metrics out there (see my previous posts) to grade us on. Oh well.

It is a good place to get your feet wet in the IT world, but it's time to get out.

 

[DS]

At one time you guys made it all run smoothly.
Technology has made your jobs redundant at ups.
Or at least thats the goal they strive for.
Some big shot in Atlanta dolls out the dispatch for the whole country
and the sups have to make it work .sad

 

[paidslave]

Sorry people! Technology comes Technology goes!.


Come on, UPS is Not an Internet company!


Heres a comparison:

It takes hundreds of people to build cars but it only takes a handful to fix them!

Please don't blame ups for a lay off. Your job was performed and now they simply need a few maintenance workers!

Be greatful that you had this experience and years.

I remember when all we needed was a clip board and pen to record deliveries. So please don't illustrate how important your jobs, education and knowledge is.

UPS is not going to fall apart now with you gone or me!


Good luck!

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

Hey guys, I've been reading the threads and I'm just curious as to the current state of TSG.

I worked at UPS for almost 20 years, 7 in TSG. Then about a year ago I was let go. I have to say since then I haven't looked back and even though leaving UPS wasn't on my terms, I don't regret it at all.

I do believe the future existence of TSG is doubtful. I questioned the future of TSG and I believe that is one of the reasons why I was let go. Being one of the most senior techs and highest paid also was a factor I'm sure.

Anyways, here are the red flags for me that TSG was being scrutinized. Not that I was aware of them at the time, but hindsight is always 20/20:

1) Moving from GKB to HDFS was one of the first signs. As much money as they spent on HDFS along with the time and effort spent fine tuning it to their needs, it should have been obvious where things were heading. HDFS tracked everything about a ticket - time spent, miles, expenses, etc.

2) The next thing that came along was PMT. Nothing more than management's way to micromanage the hell out of everyone without having to get out of their chair. Not to mention taking number chasing to a whole new level. With PMT, being proactive no longer paid off. It was better to be reactive because you so needed the work to fill your day. Proactivity would just hurt you in the long run. I could rant about PMT for days but it's not necessary - I'm sure everyone feels the same way.

3) Then the TSC's starting shutting down. At that point I started to worry a little bit.

4) Then the first round of TSG layoff's came but our district was safe. At that point I decided I needed to do something very soon. I started working on my resume and trying to put my experience to paper. Even though I passed the MAPP process I did not want to end up wasting my technical ability in some IE or operations job. I asked by boss about buyouts and said I was willing to take one. Maybe I went out too far on a limb there, but I was trying to get a sense of the future of TSG but they weren't biting at all. I put my resume out and did a few phone interviews but no job offers.

What I discovered was my TSG experience was nothing in the outside world. The only thing we really had to troubleshoot was hardware. Any software issues were resolved by ... rebuild baby. A set of DS CD's could get you out of any software issue. The only other experience of value was project management and that was a push.

Guys, the experience you have in TSG means very little to the outside (real) world. So my advice whoever is left in TSG - self develop. Learn as much as you can.

One of my old managers whom I still respect, told me to put my resume out once a year (he said he did the same thing). Just to see what you are worth. I never did but I wish I had. It would have opened my eyes to my skills at UPS vs the skills in the real technical world.

I just have a couple questions for anyone still in TSG:

2005 was A+, 2006 was Network+. What are the certs they are making you get in 2007 and 2008?

How have the layoffs been going? Is a round of layoffs announced every January?

How many TSC's are left?


Just one more thing. This proposed contract for the Teamsters probably will get rejected. This will cause UPS customers to divert to other carriers and begin to hurt the bottom line. Once that happens, UPS will start trimming more and more jobs beginning with non-union administrative/technical.

All that's req'd is A+ and Net+? I had those in 2000 and 2001. What am I doing as a FT hourly grunt again? :/